The defending champion Barangay Ginebra San Miguel logged their first victory for the second conference as they hammered the Meralco Bolts, 110-95.
Sol Mercado tookover the playmaking job as well as the scoring slack as LA Tenorio have a minor injury on his finger.
Mercado scored 14 points with 5 rebounds and 8 assists to orchestrate the Gin Kings offense.
Justin Brownlee flirted a triple-double performance with 27 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists output while Japeth Aguilar had 19 points and 6 boards, a good bounce back from his dismal game last Friday.
Meralco controlled the first half of the match and entered the second half with an eleven points advantage. Yet, the Gin Kings “Never-Say-Die” spirit got activated as the boys of coach Tim Cone rallied back. At the end of the third quarter they reversed the story as Ginebra got a double-digit lead, 82-71.
Bolts head coach Norman Black seems copied what their opponent did on that opening second half quarter as they also made a 10-0 run to bring down Ginebra’s advantage to only a single point, 81-82.
However, team NSD answered back with an 18-2 blast and slammed the door for Meralco to make sure no more late comebacks.
Bolts’ import Gani Lawal continue to stuff the scoring stat as he made 38 points and 20 rebounds. Baser Amer added 10 points who is the only local player to reach double-digit in scoring.
Ginebra vs Meralco Box Score
Quarters: 16-28 | 43-54 | 82-71 | 110-95
Gin Kings (110) – Brownlee 27, Aguilar 19, Dela Cruz 16, Mercado 14, Thompson 11, Slaughter 8, Mariano 8, Tenorio 4, Ferrer 3
Bolts (95) – Lawal 38, Amer 10, Newsome 8, Hodge 7, Salva 6, Pinto 6, Canaleta 6, De Ocampo 5, Hugnatan 4, Jackson 3, Tolomia 2